Recently in Child Custody Category

When there are children involved, a break-up or a divorce is not the clean break that it seems at first. Halle Berry and Gabriel Aubry are learning this the hard way. And sometimes you even have to be taught how to manage this new walk of life.

It turns out that the Los Angeles Department of Children & Family is recommending that Berry and Aubry take parenting classes, reports the Huffington Post.

Turns out that new grandparents vaccines are necessary before the elderly interact with infant grandchildren, reports the Boston Globe.

New grandparents need to get vaccinated against pertussis (also called whooping cough) in order to protect babies less than six months old. This is because children less than six months can’t receive the whooping cough vaccine themselves.

The recommendation comes down from the American Academy of Pediatrics, reports the Globe. As a result of the recommendation, anyone that is over age 65 and caring for a baby needs to receive the so called Tdap vaccine — tetanus-diptheria-acellular pertussis. (Try saying that even slightly faster).

A young-man named Michael Allen Seaton, just 21-years-old, has been charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend's 4-year-old son, Dustyn Roff, reports the Houston Chronicle. The alleged incident occurred at her apartment in the 7100 block of Hillcroft.

Beyond being killed, Dustyn Roff was discovered in pretty bad shape. He had black eyes, a cut on his chin, and nearly a hundred bruises, as well as multiple injuries to internal organs. Some of the bruising had been healing, from which the police inferred that the child had been beaten for weeks.

Everyone's favorite teenage drama-queen-pop-star, Britney Spears, is marrying her 40-year-old former agent Jason Trawick, reports the Houston Chronicle. This is her third marriage.

Trawick and Spears ("Tears"? "Sick?") met during the course of Britney's marriage to Kevin Federline. Federline is the father of Britney's two children, reports the Daily Mail. He also has children by two other women.

There is good resource out there for for Texans dealing with an international child abduction by a parent: Texas state law. The Texas Family Code contains a number of detailed provisions related to international parental abduction of children.

For instance, Texas Family Code Section 153.501 authorizes the court to consider the risk of a parental abduction, either on its own, or through a motion by a party.

With globalization, there has been an increase in the amount of international child abductions carried out by divorced parents.

Thankfully, more than 80 countries around the world have adopted the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abductions, according to FindLaw's KnowledgeBase. The Hague Convention establishes procedures that allow for the return of wrongfully removed children.

In an announcement that is likely to make families even more nervous, the Center for Disease Control said that all 11-to-12-year-olds -- both boys and girls -- should be vaccinated against HPV, which is a virus that causes more than 25,000 cases of cancer per year, reports USA Today.

The topic of HPV vaccination is huge in Texas because back in 2007 Governor Ricky Perry tried to mandate an HPV vaccine for girls entering 6th grade. His critics said that he was trying to encourage sexual promiscuity and blocked the effort.

HPV, which stands for the human papillomavirus is best known for causing cervical cancer. However, it also causes cancers of the vagina, vulva, anus, penis and back of the throat, as well as genital warts. HPV shots inoculate against the virus.

A video of an in-training military dad reading a story to his daughter on a webcam has gone viral, reports The Stir.

In the video, a military father pre-recorded himself reading Farmer Mickey bed-time stories to his daughter. The two-year-old daughter read along and even asked questions. At the end of the video father and daughter virtually hug.

While this military dad seems to be married, the discussion of virtually interacting with one's children has gained more significance for divorced parents with the passage of a virtual visitation law in Texas. Section 153.015 of the Texas Family Code recognized virtual visitation as part and parcel of regular visitation. It seems that child visitation is one area where the law is keeping pace with the changes in technology.

Texas is one of those states where interference with child custody or visitation can lead to a civil lawsuit, according to Texas Family Code Chapter 42.

According to the statute, if there is an order in place (either in Texas or in another state), which allows a person possession or access to a child in visitation or custody, and another person interfers with "the possessory right" then that person might be liable for damages.

The death of Apple founder Steve Jobs is a good time to think about the impact that our growing technologies for communication and socialization might have within family law. One of the ways that technology is changing the way families relate to one another is through something known as "virtual visitation."

As the name implies, this is a form of child visitation that requires the use of technology -- such as email, video conferencing, video mail, and instant messaging.

Requests for virtual visitation are generally made by the non-custodial parent when the custodial parent seeks to relocate out of the area with a child. Virtual visitation requests may also apply to new child custody and visitation requests, including child custody and visitation in non-divorce cases and visitation requests by unmarried fathers.